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Hamas backs push for ICC Gaza probe

Nidal al-Mughrabi

A ball of fire rises from the al-Zafer apartment tower in Gaza City following an Israeli air strike on Saturday. Photo: AP

Gaza City: Hamas leaders have given their consent for the Palestinians to join the International Criminal Court (ICC), a move that could open up both Israel and the militant group itself to war crimes probes over the fighting in the Gaza Strip.

Moussa Abu Marzouk, a Hamas leader based in Cairo, said he had signed a document that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says all factions must endorse before he proceeds with the ICC push.

If the Palestinians were to sign the ICC's founding treaty, the Rome Statute, the court would have jurisdiction over crimes committed in the occupied Palestinian territories.

A police explosives specialist removes the remains of a Palestinian rocket from the southern Israeli town of Gan Yavne on Friday. Photo: Reuters

An investigation could then examine events as far back as mid-2002, when the ICC opened with a mandate to try individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. At that time, the second Palestinian intifada was raging, with suicide bombings and bus bombings in Israel, and Israel was carrying out operations Defensive Shield and Determined Path in the occupied West Bank.

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Explaining the Islamist group's decision to sign, Hamas official Mushir al-Masri said: "There is nothing to fear, the Palestinian factions are leading legitimate resistance in keeping with all international laws and standards. We are in a state of self-defence."

There was no immediate comment from Israel, which is not an ICC member.

Both Israel and Hamas defend their military operations as consistent with international law.

Membership of the ICC opens countries to investigations both on their behalf and against them. Several powers, including the United States, have declined to ratify the ICC founding treaty, citing the possibility of politically motivated prosecutions.

The ICC is a court of last resort, meaning that it will only intervene when a country is found to be unwilling or unable to carry out its own investigation.

On Saturday, Egypt called on Israel and the Palestinians to halt hostilities and resume peace talks, but both sides kept up attacks, including an Israeli air strike which destroyed a residential tower block in the centre of Gaza City.

Hamas militants also fired rockets at Israel, hitting the southern city of Beersheba, where two people were hurt, police said. At least two rockets were also fired from Lebanon into northern Israel but it was not initially clear who fired them, Lebanese and Israeli sources said.

Initial reports said 17 people were wounded in the attack on the 13-storey Gaza building, local health officials said.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said the building, which collapsed completely, contained a command centre belonging to Hamas militants.

Palestinian health officials say 2083 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in the small, densely populated coastal enclave since July 8, when Israel launched an offensive with the declared aim of ending Palestinian rocket fire into its territory.